The utilization of sheet material such as wax paper, metal foil and film to wrap various products, particularly food products, has burgeoned in recent years. The web is most usually wound in a roll which is rotatively positioned in a box or other container. The box is equipped with a cutter edge so that a selected length of material can be drawn from the roll and tensioned over the cutter edge and torn to separate that selected length of material from the remainder of the roll.
There also exist web and sheet material dispensers which incorporate knife blades or cutters to facilitate separating a drawn length of material from the rest of the roll. Dispensers such as this are especially useful to dispense very thin limp film such as the film marketed by Dow Chemical Co. under its trademark Saran. Examples of dispensers of this general type are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,311,278 and 3,419,201. Cutter devices have also been designed to attach to a standard carton containing such web so that the web can be served and cut right from its original carton. An example of such a device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,647.
While these prior dispensers do serve and sever web, even limp film, reasonably satisfactorily, they have certain drawbacks. More particularly, some people find the dispensers typified by the ones depicted in the first two aforementioned patents fairly difficult to use. This is because, after a length of web is severed by the dispenser's cutter mechanism, the new leading edge of the film is relatively inaccessible. Therefore, it is difficult for some to grip that edge in order to pull additional material from the roll. The problem is particularly acute when dispensing very thin films which possess a considerable charge of static electricity and which therefore tend to cling. As soon as a length of film is severed, the new leading edge margin of the film tends to fly back and cling against the remainder of the roll so that it is relatively difficult for some users to grasp that edge.
Further, conventional dispensers of this general type do not invariably sever the web across its entire width, particularly if the web is a very thin limp film. The cutter mechanisms in the prior apparatus may leave portions of the drawn segment attached to the remainder of the roll so that, when the drawn segment is pulled away from the cutter, unwanted material is unwound from the roll. The user must then try to tear the partially severed segment away from that additional material whereupon that segment and the unwanted material tend to cling to themselves and to the dispenser housing.
Also some prior dispensers are relatively complicated structures, being composed of a number of small parts which must be made separately and assembled by hand in order to form the finished dispenser. Consequently, the prior products which have been available to data have proven to be more expensive than they ought to be.
On the other hand, the cutter parts depicted in the last above-mentioned patent have to be assembled by the housewife on the standard cardboard box containing the web roll. Some find that difficult to do. Also, the separate parts may become lost and the cutting blade is exposed and presents a hazard. Still further, after repeated usage the cardboard carton tends to tear, rendering the cutter mechanism unable to perform its cutting and serving functions.